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July 10, 2013

Fidelity Clearing Unit to Reorganize, Appoint New Leaders

Fidelity Institutional plans a new organizational structure that recognizes the converging business models in the financial advice industry

In major news of a reorganization of its clearing unit, Fidelity Institutional announced on Wednesday that it would reorganize the business due to rapid changes in the financial advice industry and has tapped new leaders from within the company to lead the reorganization.

Boston-based Fidelity Institutional, which has more than $1.1 trillion in assets under administration, is the division of Fidelity Investments that provides clearing, custody and investment management products to registered investment advisors, banks, broker-dealers and family offices.

Fidelity Institutional President Gerard McGraw and the leaders of Fidelity’s custody and clearing units, Michael Durbin (right), president of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, and Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, will oversee a new organizational structure that recognizes “the growing, emerging, and converging business models in the financial advice industry, while maintaining its commitment to the existing regional support model,” according to a news release.

The unit recognized that it could better serve the custody and clearing industry by leveraging its scale and breadth of expertise, McGraw said in a statement.

“We are a diverse company, and it’s important that we are aligned to consistently bring our clients both our broad industry perspective as well as our specific business model expertise,” he said. “We are committed to delivering against our clients’ immediate needs, but also looking ahead to help them navigate some of the challenges and opportunities we expect they will face in the future.”

Fidelity announced the following groups and leaders, all from within the company:

• Broker-Dealers — Bobbi Masiello, currently executive vice president and head of relationship management for Fidelity’s clearing business, will lead the group as insurance, independent and institutional broker-dealer firms evolve and increase their focus on more customized, advanced technology solutions.

• Banks — Michael Norton, currently senior vice president for client experience supporting Fidelity’s clearing clients, will lead the group. Banks are increasing their focus on growing their wealth management offerings, so Fidelity will dedicate a group to oversee banks’ converging product and technology needs in custody and clearing.

• The following groups will report to Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services President Michael Durbin:

— RIAs – Bob Oros, currently executive vice president of sales and relationship management in Fidelity’s custody business, will continue to head RIA sales and relationship management.

— Strategic acquirers and professional asset managers will comprise a separate team. Robert Evans, who has served as a regional senior vice president in the RIA custody unit for seven years, will lead this team and continue to report to Oros.

— Retirement advisors and administrators — With financial advisors and third-party administrators playing an increasing role in the 401(k) market, a new Fidelity team will promote the services of 401(k) retirement plan recordkeepers and engage with advisors who sell retirement plans. Meg Kelleher, currently executive vice president for sales and relationship management in Fidelity’s custody business will lead the group.

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